YouTube issues apology to LGBT creators on last day of Pride Month

YouTube used the last day of Pride Month to speak directly to LGBT creators about some of the platform-related issues they’ve been dealing with.

The start of Pride Month was plagued with a multitude of issues on YouTube that the LGBT community had to deal with. First, a video from one trans creator prompted the wide realization that YouTube may have been – inadvertently or otherwise – demonetizing videos about gender and sexuality, many of those coming from LGBT creators.

To make matters worse, YouTube was allowing advertisements from anti-LGBT organizations to run across the site, many showing specifically on videos from and about gay and trans creators.

More than a month after these issues surfaced, YouTube has issued a public statement.

“We’ve taken action on the ads that violate our policies, and we are tightening our enforcement,” the company wrote in a four-part series of tweets. “And when we hear concerns about how we’re implementing our monetization policy, we take them seriously and make improvements if needed.”

The company’s statement is vague and doesn’t lay out a specific action plan or give deadlines for when things will definitively be improved. After concerns about the hate-based ads were magnified by a tweet from Elijah Daniel earlier in June, YouTube responded and removed the specific ad shown in his screenshots, but was mum on the rest of the issues.

YouTube’s new statement in full:

It’s the last day of Pride Month and we wanted to reach out to the LGBTQ community. We’re proud of the incredible LGBTQ voices on our platform and the important role you play in the lives of young people.

But we’ve also had issues where we let the LGBTQ community down–inappropriate ads and concerns about how we’re enforcing our monetization policy. We’re sorry and we want to do better.

We’ve taken action on the ads that violate our policies, and we are tightening our enforcement. And when we hear concerns about how we’re implementing our monetization policy, we take them seriously and make improvements if needed.

It’s critical to us that the LGBTQ community feels safe, welcome, equal, and supported on YouTube. Your work is incredibly powerful and we are committed to working with you to get this right.

Until more action is seen, it’s unlikely that many creators will feel satisfied or comforted by YouTube’s statement.